Memory of BLACK Dreaming
by Mugen7
Summary: What started as a colourful experience had warped into a dark recollection. But no matter how grave the experience, once you've woken up you'll soon forget. It would've been nothing but a fleeting dream lost from memory. However. Recurring nightmares tend to signify torment, symbolic undertones, and unresolved issues that are waiting to be put to rest. For better, or for worse.


**Disclaimer**

 **The following is a fan-based work of fiction.**

 **Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima (Mashima Hiro).**

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 **Memory of [BLACK] Dreaming**

 **Written by Mugen7**

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The well-nigh asphyxiating smell of nature woke him...

The primordial wind whistled an ambient tune, and its benign flow ran along his body.

A sky blue heaven – serene, and radiant – evoked a lucid and spiritual calm from within.

Atrophied muscles flourished with a twitch and a flex, and his brain fog quickly dissipated. He rose himself – sitting upright – and acknowledged the picturesque scene in front of him.

――― An open grassland that stretched for miles – decadent with hills and vivid greenery. A thick and widespread forest could be sighted at the furthest point of the landscape – acting as natural blockade that cordoned off the other side. Above the dark and rich green foliage however, mountain peaks were visible – although partially obscured by a light grey mist.

"_ _ _ _ _."

He suddenly heard a voice... A female voice – calling out to him.

Turning – behind he is presented with a new picturesque view.

――― A pair of trees – thick and robust with brown wood – had an affluent supply of fresh green leaves. Each tree – standing apart from one another – had a single long, leafy branch stretched out. As though they were hands reaching out for the other, as well as inviting him into a welcomed domain. They were both slightly curved – performing as an archway to an entrance.

His gaze shifted, and he noticed a home. A chalet made of yellowish-brown wood with a polished finish was built atop a raised land-form. The front view of the home was surrounded by low cut grass and light herbage neatly grown in another space. Shallow outcrops were few and displaced a marginal ways from the household, and close to the paired trees. In the background behind the home – another dense forest, along with peaks of mountains at an additional mileage behind the scene.

The whole setting was curtained by a natural golden yellowish light – enhancing the wholesome, organic theme.

"_ _ _ _ _."

His focus drifted...

Eyes landed on the sight of a sole individual – a woman, who stood between the pair of trees.

Tall and opulent, with full breasts and a well-toned physique. Her sun-kissed dark skin had a healthy, exotic glow. Long and thick wavy dark hair crossed with a shocking azure hue, one that matched the sky above. Her stance was relaxed and straight – and she was dressed in a sleeveless lapis blue garb embellished with white and golden features, complimenting her regal stature.

Unknown to him though... Her face was blurred for some reason.

"_ _ _ _ _."

Though far apart the woman emitted, maternal warmth, and a tranquillity that could settle any manner of restlessness and belligerence it seemed.

She held out her hand, beckoning him to come over. He had every intention to stand up and rush over to the woman... However – an unexpected announcement broke his commitment.

―――― Rumbling... Even from far out it was loud and transparently clear.

Deep, resonating – the repeated sound shook its conduit of invisible air.

Louder and louder – the noise echoed longer and longer...

A shadow in the sky appeared. Flying. Two features that looked like, wings, beating against the wind – moving up... and down, up... and down. Rhythmically.

As the imposing shape rapidly approached it became more distinct.

Dragon...

A race of powerful and magical creatures. A transcendent kind – one regarded as being the pinnacle of all natural and supernatural beasts alike, and said to be an extension of the world where they lived in an age where the mystical was in abundance. Their existence was plentiful and they could be scouted all across the world.

His fascination with them was – grisly. There was dislike – repugnance. Yet congenial interest and admiration for their abilities. There was a time where he witnessed one in plain view – an amazing sight to behold...

Light, bright, and brilliant. Majestic and elegantly it flew with its angelic qualities. At peace and one with the sky it dwelt upon and the wind in which it rode.

―――― But this dragon, was nothing of the sort.

Primordial grandeur and ravenous keen. Chromatic scales that rejected light – its non-reflective form gave it a shadowy aspect, and its sharp gaze, was murderous.

The wind howled and the earth grumbled, reverberations intensified as the beast came quicker and quicker. He wobbled – left, right, back, and forth. The land cried and fissures web and divide – racing out and marring the open plain.

Snap, crack, crunch, rustle – the forest split, heights crumbled, and trees were unceremoniously torn from their roots as outcrops flew.

Booming. Deafening. The dragon roared. Landmasses rose and erupted skyward.

Then violent flames of magical energy – deep and baleful – burst and bloom. Hot and aflame – the howling winds seared.

Closer and closer the disasters came. The airborne monster dove at breakneck speeds – heading deliberately for the faceless woman.

She hadn't moved – she was still – hand held out the same as before. Perfectly stable amidst the disastrous incursion.

He ran – dashed – as fast as he could. Reaching out desperately to the woman he's unable to touch.

Shouting. Crying. His screams are deathly silent.

All strength, all might, yet he moves painfully slow. His will denied.

Faster and faster. Closer and closer. The distance is closing. They're coming – they're coming – but why won't she move.

 _Reach! Reach! Why can't he reach!?_

With a startle and a boom, the woman is blown forth. The Dragon's maw opens as she is swallowed in the encroaching chaos.

He's thrown back – spinning, twisting, flailing uncontrollably – mind rattled and insides wailed, his world becomes a spiral of distortion.

Stop!

... He had stopped... Now on hands and knees.

Ears rang with a sense of vertigo, his throat coarse and head pounded. Eyes sore and dry. His body grieved from considerable aches and pains, and sinuses congested with the pungent odour of smoke.

... Red... The world was red – the atmosphere bled and the heavens boiled, and the ruined lands were engulfed in flames...

Hell... He saw hell.

Blood – so much blood and death everywhere. Bodies were mutilated – limbs missing and lower and upper halves were shredded off; organs and intestines trailed across hard surfaces. Lifeless corpses with their coldly sunken and hollow eyes matched with horrific expressions.

For those luckily alive. They ran hysterically. He looked as individuals met their deaths – crushed under earthbound weights of rock and stone, the people's blood slapped and splattered – others were blasted skyward in different directions, catapulted to the furthest reaches, lost from sight – and plenty had been snatched away and taken up high. His head tilts back and there he saw.

A thunder of dragons – arcing the higher plains and navigating around each other as they preyed on the fearful humans.

Savagery and malice. They viewed the human race as an inferior species – livestock to be taken advantage of.

Vile and fiendish. For all their intelligence and supposed civility they proved themselves to be no better than the worst of humans when driven by acts of brutality and carnage – readily exploiting their sinful ways without shame. No... Their behaviour was worse.

The hollow chasm in his soul flooded as he continued to witness the unsparing barbarism. A storming array of emotions shook him – wrath, vengefulness, apprehension and more; all waged a war of dissonance inside him in a fit of extremes. A chaotic maelstrom.

The dragons were a scourge, a plague, they killed and killed and killed and killed and killed. So long as they existed the world would forever be separated from peace. They were a living dilapidation on the world. They took away his home they took away his _life, his freedom_. They took _her_ away and everything that belonged to him.

 _Kill!_

Every last one of them...

 _Kill!_

He'd kill them...

 _Kill!_

He'd kill all of them! He would take back everything and they would reap what they'd sown.

 _Kill! **Kill! KILL!**_

――― Overwhelmed by intensity his sights blurred a deep red, and he felt his body burst and rush with its own accord. A withered coil charged with tremendous power – pervaded with a singular, terrifying sense of purpose and imbued with primordial energies that had his soul raving for more.

He could feel and hear bodies crumbling, bones shattering, innards crushed, muscles ripping and sinew snapping. And the deafening inhuman cries of anguish were a cacophony of relief...

As quickly as it came he was released from the turbulent high and the bloody curtain concealing his view lifted...

Dragons... So many of them, dead, and maimed...

A fleeting wave of elation passed through him... He, _loved_ it.

 _ **More...**_

It wasn't enough.

 _ **More!**_

Far from enough.

 _ **MORE!**_

They needed to suffer more.

They hadn't experienced enough pain – enough agony! _Terror!_

It wasn't enough to just kill them physically. Oh no. He felt his violent hunger being superseded by something even greater – deeper – more... spiritual.

As soon as the newfound desire dawned on him he steadily grew psychotic – an upheaval of madness swarmed his mind and his entire self like a tempest unbound.

Arms involuntarily rose before his eyes... Blood...? Was it blood that had drenched him? It felt thick and had a nigh presentable iron scent to it, only glossed over by something, archaic and other. He could feel the thick and wet texture all over him. If so – if it had been blood – then why did it look so dark…? And his hands, they didn't look human any more.

Feeling himself becoming more lost in a sea of madness his appearance started to warp. He was changing. Changing into something, greater. Something-

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Extremely dark.

Black was everywhere.

Intensely deep and muffled noises were heard as though they came from all directions.

He was lying atop something hard, and gritty.

―― Ripples, in the darkness formed.

The blackness lightened, and the surround sounds were made clearer.

He could see, but everything was as much a haze, and he could barely move his body.

 _ **"_"**_

Without even knowing he could somehow tell that there was _something_ there – ahead of him.

Weakly his neck craned back and he saw a large shadowy mass of a monumental size.

A giant, black creature – its whole body was an abyssal void. However, shades of blue – like a beautiful azure – shone brilliantly through the darkness, independent and stark from the rest of the creature's form. The most distinguishable feature he could make sense of, and the clearest.

It moved – turning its large body around and faced him.

Two blinding white dots – eyes – circled by the same shining blue colour – stared intently at him with unreadable fixation.

He saw a thin crack in the black. Slowly, it opened like the maw of a predator, and a blue miasma wafted out – like a big exhale of air.

Wide open, the inside looked like a burning blue sun. A boundary... A gateway leading to some place, unknown.

What lied beyond that cerulean blue, he wondered...?

In an instant the creature shot forth and as the blue light swallowed him, it all ended.

* * *

 _"AUGH!"_

He woke up with a start. Cold sweat. His chest was hot and tight; rising and falling heavily as his heart beat rapidly – the harsh sound of thumping was all he heard. It pained him to breathe but he couldn't stop gasping for air, and his teary eyes were opened wide to their limits.

Shooting up he leaned forward, hands gripping the sheets fiercely – knuckles popping as his hold tightened.

... He was no stranger to dreams. They were few, and often enough tended to be clear-cut, and always purposeful. However this dream this, nightmare... was implicit. Exhausting and difficult for him to comprehend.

This wasn't the first time he'd experienced this dream unfortunately. It was fractious and untimely and concerning. Since the first he'd woken up in the same fashion. They were repetitive, yet, alarmingly fresh and familiar. Like... he was reliving a chain of memories. And that confused him.

He could recall everything in detail – down to the smallest features. Though after some time memory would become splotched, dark and fragmented, leaving him with the obsessive and difficult task of finding the missing pieces. Almost entirely clouded in mystery, until the next cycle where he was to be reminded of what he'd seen in full, nevertheless no closer to figuring out the dream's significance or why he was seeing it to begin with.

It wasn't enough that it made him uneasy and deeply frightened. But – _what_ did it mean? _When_ did it occur? _Where_ exactly did it take place? _Why_ was it familiar? _How_ did it all relate to him?

"_a_ _ _l."

A voice...

"_aj_el."

A woman's voice.

"Gajeel." Why was that name so well-known to him...?

... Ah, that's right. It was his name... He'd forgotten his own name.

"It's alright." The sensation of dainty fingers against his chest was... gentle. It assuaged his anxiety and precarious condition slowly. "It's over... It's over." The woman's fingers lightly pressed against him, and automatically he allowed himself to gingerly brought back down.

As he lay, her fingers gracefully slid across his pectoral, stopping at his shoulder.

"Come." Careening onto his side he felt the woman's arm pull him in. Her feather like strokes tickled his back, and he felt a second set of fingers comb through his hair.

Face buried between a full pair of soft mounds, he cuddled up against the woman, holding onto her smooth and curvaceous, yet firm and toned build like a lifeline.

"I'm right here." Her soft spoken words soothed his nerves more whilst her natural fragrant scent seized his mind...

As the woman's presence managed to lull him into an easy sleep – driven into a quiet slumber – Gajeel would be unaware once again, as stark blue markings painted his darkening flesh.

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 **FIN**

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 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

 **Inspired by an old fan-theory and other speculation way back, before the series came close to ending.**

 **It might not hold any merit now, but it doesn't mean one can't let their imagination wonder from time-2-time.**

 **This is _FanFiction_ after all.**


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